As analytics aimed at helping companies make use of all their data proliferate, companies worldwide are embracing these new technologies and finding ever-more-innovative ways to use them. Those that fail to do so risk being left on the sidelines.

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Banking | United Kingdom
In its 2014 annual report published in February, RBS announced that CIB, which includes global transaction services, will reduce its geographical footprint from 38 to 13 countries.

Capital Markets | Equity Capital Raising
Burgundy vineyard Domaine Chanzy expects to be the first company to conduct an initial public offering using crowdfunding, which enables companies to raise money from members of the public, typically via the Internet.

Milestones | European Union
Regulators had Web giants like Google and Apple in their sites when they framed a new value-added tax (VAT) regulation for businesses selling digital products into the European Union

Trends | Bank Capitalization
As Spaniards returned from the Los Reyes Magos (Epiphany) holiday, Spain’s Santander, Europe’s biggest bank, sold the equivalent of nearly 10% of its capital in one day, raising €7.5 billion ($8.7 billion) in cash and bringing required ratios in line with those of the banking industry.

UK Corporate Tax | Trends
Britain likely will succeed in taxing multinational companies at a 25% rate on their UK operations beginning in April, without violating international tax treaties, analysts say, but tensions are rising between countries on suspicions that MNCs are engaging in global tax evasion.

Vatican | Newsmakers
René Brülhart, known as the “James Bond of the financial world” for his high-profile role in cases such as the return of assets from Saddam Hussein to post-war Iraq and the uncovering of the Siemens bribery scandal, has become chairman of the Vatican’s anti-money-laundering unit.

Netherlands | Milestone
As a part of the restructuring agreement between ING, the Dutch government and the European Commission, ING agreed to several of what it called “bans,” according to an email sent by a company spokesman to Global Finance

Shareholder Activism | Management
Shareholder activism—when investors in a company use their equity as a lever to pressure management—is booming and will grow dramatically on both sides of the Atlantic through mid-2016

Capital Markets | Mergers & Acquisitions
Global cross-border mergers and acquisitions totaled $1.1 trillion during the first nine months of 2014, more than double the level of the same period a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters.

Europe’s bond market grew 50% faster than the global rate during the first nine months of the year—by 4.6% year-on-year—but small foreign rating agencies jockeying for a piece of the action are crying foul.

COUNTRY REPORT | CYPRUS
Amid continuing harsh austerity measures, things are—very slowly—starting to recover, alongside restructuring that will change the focus of the economy. GDP in 2014 should contract by 3.5% before flattening out next year, with 0.2% growth forecast.